$54,547 MISTAKE ASSAILED

A Broward County employee was forced to resign after he approved paying a contractor for work that was never done, a mistake that will cost taxpayers $54,547 and cause five families to wait months for their new homes.

County commissioners, in a scathing criticism of their staff, said housing inspector Richard Bryan should have been fired and not allowed to resign.

Bryan approved payments to Ricks Construction for work that was never done on five houses. The homes were being built using mortgages guaranteed by federal grants in a program supervised by the county's Community Development Division.

In an effort to encourage minority companies, the county had stopped requiring the firms to buy insurance against business failures or financial problems. When Ricks Construction ran into such problems, subcontractors went unpaid and walked off the job, leaving the homes unfinished.

The County Commission agreed Tuesday to pay the subcontractors and underwrite the cost of finishing the houses. Those items will cost taxpayers $54,547. The commission also voted to sue Ricks Construction for the money.

Company president Charles Ricks has moved and could not be found for comment.

The firm had been paid continuously for work it did not perform, officials said Tuesday. The payments were approved by Bryan, the county's inspector.

Bryan, who resigned July 22, filed an unemployment claim out of state and also could not be reached. In documents filed with the county, he said he had been "constantly harassed" by his superiors and was resigning under protest.

Commissioner Nicki Grossman said he should have been fired and "if there is legal action we can take against him, we should be at the front of the line."

Bryan, 37, who started working for the county in 1979, receiving eight written reprimands between 1983 and 1986. He had been charged with chronic absenteeism, records show. He was rated as "poor" or "improvement needed" in eight of 10 performance categories. Officials threatened to fire him in July 1985 and last June 13.